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Journal of the
Claise
Brook
Catchment Group
Scroll down to read about our recent
activities in this journal or click
Previous months to travel further back.
World Environment Day at Point Fraser with the City of Perth - Sunday 5
June 2011

Mercedes College students and CBCG volunteers planting
samphire in the nutrient stripping wetland at Point Fraser.
Samphire is a succulent native plant which grows around the Swan River
estuary. Sometimes featured on cooking shows!

Long-necked tortoise or turtle? Correctly a tortoise is a
land dwelling animal with feet. This is a turtle, with webbed flippers for
swimming and walking. Australia does not have any native tortoises, but the
names tortoise and turtle have been used interchangeably in the past.

Rada and Greg just couldn't resist doing a bit of weeding.

Swans in Hyde Park - Saturday 28 May 2011
  
Top up planting at Forrest Park Clubrooms - Saturday 28 May 2011
Jenny and Greg assisted Dudley in planting some of the bare spots at the
Forrest Park Clubrooms. Sally took photos.
 
 
Great Gardens Sustainability Day- Saturday 14 May 2011
The Claise Brook Catchment Group joined the Great Gardens team and other
environmental groups in Forrest Place to tell city visitors about
environmental initiatives in the city.
At midday the mall was alive with the Sambanistas, dancing girls, a
visitor from Narnia playing bagpipes, a moveable sculpture made from
stuff found at the tip and kids riding bicycles to power hairdryers and
blenders. It was noisy, exciting and (children look away now) our very
own Warren Mcgrath was in the swan suit playing Jon the Swan.
Our own table enjoyed a steady stream of people interested to talk
about swans and to add a swan dot to our map,
marking swan sightings on the Swan River. Thanks to Greg, Warren, Dudley
and Sally for manning the stall.

 
 
 
Drains to River drain marking launched - Friday 15th April 2011
The Swan River Trust, River Guardians, the Town of Vincent and the
Claise Brook Catchment Group today launched the drain marking program
"Drains to River". Volunteers from the catchment group and the River
Guardians marked stormwater drains in the Claise Brook catchment with
the message "Drains to River" and an image of a dolphin. Postcards were
delivered to households explaining how the health the of the Swan River
is affected by pollution entering the river through the stormwater
drains.
The Minister for the Environment, Bill Marmion joined the volunteers
and proved himself very handy with a spray can. Click
here to go to media releases.
Simple
actions which can help reduce stormwater pollution include:
· Wash your car on the lawn rather than on driveways or roads where
detergents can run into drains
· Keep your car well-serviced to prevent oil leaks
· Use biodegradable detergents that do not contain phosphates
· Make sure all rubbish gets recycled or goes into a bin
· Reduce your fertiliser use, or do not use it at all
· Do not let grass clippings, leaves or other organic matter wash
into the drain
· Never allow paint or other household chemicals to enter the
stormwater system
· Report individuals or businesses that you see polluting
stormwater.

Sally Lake, member Claise Brook Catchment Group supervises drain marking
by Bill Marmion, Minister for the Environment and John Giorgi, CEO Town
of Vincent.

Just some of the volunteers who marked drains in the Claise Brook
Catchment
Clean Up Day Australia - Sunday 6th March 2011 25 willing
volunteers quickly dealt with years of accumulated litter at Hamilton
Lake, our newest project site in Northbridge. The litter collection is
the first step in our planned improvement of the area. We have applied
for funding to buy plants to improve the lake surrounds. If our grant
application is successful we will be planting this winter. Our thanks to
Main Roads and the Town of Vincent for their assistance in organising
the cleanup.

Forrest Park Clubrooms - 11th September 2010 After months of
preparation, we finally put spade to earth and planted the new garden at
the Forrest Park Clubrooms on Harold Street, Mt Lawley. Here's the team
which did the work, which was followed by a delicious morning tea
provided by the Club and croquet on the lawns.



Spring at Robertson Park - Saturday 4th September 2010




Wild wetland fun, Banks Reserve - Saturday 17th July 2010
They say never work with children and
animals, but I don't think we've had so much fun in a long time than at the
Town of Vincent's Wild Wetlands fun day at Banks Reserve.
Warren, James, Greg, Rada, Sally and
Dudley manned the Claise Brook Catchment Group stall selling local native
plants and offering activities including making origami plant pots from
newspaper, giant board games, badge making and a tour of the foreshore
restoration led by Shenandoah Bruce from Syrinx Environmental.
Other activities on offer included a Eco
Treasure Hunt with GPS & Compass, Reptiles, Birds of Prey, Kanyana Native
Animals, Peg from MRC Roaming Recycler and Brenda and Rob from Environment
House. Our thanks to the Swan River Trust for the loan of equipment and the
Town of Vincent for organising the event and supplying plants.
 
Here is the board game, which kids young
and old really enjoyed.
Jack proudly shows off his badge.
Foreshore restoration tour.
Clancy and Jessie, our youngest members.
 
Warren babysat Clancy while Julie and
Jessie checked out the pythons at the next tent.

Matt shows off his python boa to Jack.

And at the end of the day Greg packed
everything onto his trolley and walked home.
Water Sampling, Mounts Bay Catchment - 15th July 2010
The Swan River Trust has provided
funding for water testing across the Mounts Bay Catchment. Following heavy
rains, on a wild Monday in July, Rebecca, Marion and Sally took samples from
5 sites across the catchment. We'll be sampling every month until the end of
the year so if anyone would like to assist, please get in
touch.

Marion and Rebecca do something
mysterious with the equipment at Lake Monger.

Sally and Marion collect sediment at the
Hamilton Interchange. These photos might look sunny, but it rained for much
of the day.
Working bee Robertson Park - Saturday 3rd July 2010
Thanks to new gloves, provided by the
Town of Vincent, there were no excuses not to get stuck into the winter
weeds sprouting up around the wetland.

Jennine won the stylish attire award for
this natty outfit. Here she is labelling her gloves so they don't go astray.

We'd all like to thank the Town of
Vincent for our lovely new gloves.
Working bee Robertson Park - Saturday 6th June 2010
Now that the winter rains have started, we can start planting. We planted 5
trays (about 200) sedges and 10 swamp banksias (Banksia littoralis).
Dudley, Greg, Chris, Rob, Rada and James prepare for
planting.


James and Dudley plant sedges at the top of the creek
channel, near where the water bubbles up. The water source for the wetland
is runoff from nearby streets. The sedges in the creek channel will filter
out sediment and pollutants before the water reaches the wetland.

Greg (above) and Rada (below) planting sedges along the creek
channel.


Giving a newly planted swamp banksia a drink. Because swamp
banksias grow around wetlands they are used to a bit of water, so can also
tolerate the reticulation likely to be found in home gardens.

And we finish with a cup of tea and home-made cake, courtesy
of Rada's mum. Below is a rare photograph of the photographer, who is
usually behind the camera.

Reconciliation Ceremony on the Swan River - 29th May 2010
In May,
members of our group assisted in a Reconciliation Ceremony held on the Swan
River at Banks Reserve. Nyungar Elders spoke of their connection to the area
and our group outlined some of the history since 1829. The ceremony
concluded with a performance by the renowned Wadumbah Aboriginal Dance
Group.



Our
youngest members, Jessie and Clancy, with the Wadumbah Aboriginal Dance
Group
Mounts Bay catchment tour - Saturday 17th May 2010
Rebecca, Debbie and Sally visited the
Mounts Bay Catchment to identify sites for water quality testing for which the Swan River Trust has provided funding. We spotted this excellent sign at
the Mabel Talbot reserve, put up by the City of Subiaco.

PLEASE DO
NOT FEED US!
As lakes
dry out we naturally move to more permanent water bodies.
Feeding us
tricks us into hanging around when conditions are not great. Drinking from
the drying pools can make is really sick.
As part of
normal seasonal changes, the lake dries out over summer and fills up over
winter, creating a healthy natural environment for native fauna.
Working bee Robertson Park - Saturday 1st May 2010

We mulched
the bare ground beside the path.

Several
wheelbarrow teams kept the mulch spreaders busy while Chris (below) cleared
out the accumulated litter and organic matter from the streambed in
preparation for replanting next month.

Walking tour of Point Fraser and Cycling tour around Perth city - Saturday
24th April 2010

Our members held our annual cycle
tour of the city and also offered a walking tour of Point Fraser.
Warren started by introducing the tours and our group to participants.
Our members were all decked out in new T-shirts courtesy of Colin and
Heather Scott of Embroidery Design in North Perth.
Local Plant Sale at the Town of Vincent - Saturday 17th April 2010

Our first
plant sale for 2010 was very busy. Here Caroline and Gavan provide advice on
plant selection. Holding the sale outside the Loftus library, community and
recreation centre attracts lots of new buyers.
Working bee Robertson Park - Saturday 6th March 2010

Some of the
trees are in flower, attracting insects and birds. The last two months we
have enjoyed the company of a black-shouldered kite, keeping watch from the
Norfolk Pine in the park, then swooping down over the (dry) wetland. We
continued collecting seed from the variety of sedges around the dry lakebed.

Working bee Robertson Park - Saturday 6th February 2010

Weeding is
the main business in February, but we also collected seed from sedges to
propagate more plants for future planting when the rains arrive.
Working bee Robertson Park - Saturday 2nd January 2010

What better way to start the year than to check on the health of our
Nuytsia floribunda plants. (Christmas Tree)

And the home made cake is also an incentive to get us up early.
Previous months
2009
June 2008
March 2008
June 2007
April/May 2007
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